BILL NUMBER: AB 1116	CHAPTERED  07/06/99

	CHAPTER   71
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   JULY 6, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   JULY 6, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   JUNE 16, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   JUNE 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 15, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Ducheny and Senator Alarcon

                        FEBRUARY 25, 1999

   An act to add Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 400) to Part 1 of
the Education Code, relating to the English Language Acquisition
Program.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1116, Ducheny.  English Language Acquisition Program.
   Existing law requires, with certain exceptions, that children in
California public schools to be taught English by being taught in
English.
   This bill would establish the English Language Acquisition Program
for pupils enrolled in grades 4 to 8, inclusive.  The bill would
require local educational agencies, as defined, participating in the
program to conduct assessments, provide an instructional program,
provide supplemental instructional support, and coordinate available
services and funding.  The bill would require the Superintendent of
Public Instruction to annually allocate to each participating local
educational agency $100 for each pupil participating in the program
and a one-time $100 allocation for pupils in kindergarten or grades 1
to 12, inclusive, who are reclassified to English-fluent status.
   The bill would also request that the Regents of the University of
California develop English Language Development Professional
Institutes to instruct personnel from schools participating in the
English Language Acquisition Program in English language instruction,
and would require each participating team member to receive a $1,000
stipend.
   This bill would, if funds for this purpose are appropriated in the
annual Budget Act, require the California Research Bureau of the
California State Library to convene a broadly diverse group to
examine the available research on English language acquisition by
English language learners.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 400) is added to
Part 1 of the Education Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 4.  ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUISITION PROGRAM

   400.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares that English language
proficiency is critical to academic success.  It is therefore the
intent of the Legislature to enact the English Language Acquisition
Program to improve the English proficiency of California pupils, so
that those pupils are better able to meet the state's academic
content and performance standards.  It is the intent of the
Legislature that the pupils participating in this program meet grade
level English language development standards established pursuant to
Section 60811, as well as grade level standards in reading, writing,
mathematics, science, and history/social science established pursuant
to Section 60605.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the English Language
Acquisition Program be administered consistent with research-based
strategies for teaching English language learners, as well as the
English Language for Immigrant Children act set forth in Chapter 3
(commencing with Sec. 300), as applicable.
   (c) It is further the intent of the Legislature that the data
developed through this program be used to inform curriculum,
instruction, assessment, research, inservice staff development, and
teacher preparation regarding use of the most effective practices for
teaching English language learners.
   402. The Legislature hereby establishes the English Language
Acquisition Program designed for pupils enrolled in grades 4 to 8,
inclusive.
   404.  (a) (1) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall
allocate to each participating local educational agency, for each
pupil enrolled in any of grades 4 to 8, inclusive, and identified as
eligible for participation in the program established pursuant to
this chapter one hundred dollars ($100) per school year.
   (2) If the available funding is insufficient to support the
minimum allocation set forth in paragraph (1), the Superintendent of
Public Instruction shall give priority for funding to schools with
the highest proportion of pupils enrolled who are identified as
English language learners.
   (b) (1) From funds appropriated specifically for this purpose,
local educational agencies may receive an allocation of one hundred
dollars ($100) on a one-time basis for each English language learner
enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who is
reclassified to English-fluent status.  Each local educational agency
applying for an allocation pursuant to this subdivision shall
describe the procedures and criteria for reclassification of English
language learners to English-fluent status.  A local educational
agency may not claim funding pursuant to subdivision (a) for any
pupil who has been classified as fluent in the English language if
the local educational agency has received funding on behalf of that
pupil pursuant to this subdivision.  In order to be eligible for
funding pursuant to this subdivision, a local educational agency
shall implement the English language development test established
pursuant to Section 60810.
   (2) This subdivision shall only be implemented upon the state's
adoption of English language development standards pursuant to
Section 60811.
   (c) Not later than 60 days after the effective date of the act
adding this section, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall
notify local educational agencies of the availability of funds for
the English Language Acquisition Program.  For purposes of this
chapter, "local educational agency" means a school district, charter
school, or county office of education.  Each local educational agency
shall have the opportunity to request funds appropriated for the
purposes of this chapter not later than 60 days after the
notification from the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
   (d) As a condition of receiving funds under subdivision (a), each
local educational agency shall certify that it will do all of the
following:
   (1) Conduct academic assessments of English language learners to
ensure appropriate placement of those pupils.  The assessments shall
include:
   (A) Initial assessment of English language learners to determine
their English proficiency level.
   (B) Ongoing assessment conducted at least annually to ensure
accurate placement of English language learners, to communicate
progress, and to provide formative assessment information to refine
the program.  Assessment measures shall include, but are not limited
to, the state standardized testing and reporting program required by
Section 60604, unless a pupil is exempted by law, and the English
language development instrument to be developed pursuant to Section
60811, when it is developed.
   (2) Provide a program for English language development instruction
to assist pupils in successfully achieving the English language
development standards adopted by the State Board of Education
pursuant to Section 60811.  The program shall include structured
immersion instruction to be provided for English learners, such as
specially designed academic instruction in English, and sheltered
English strategies to ensure access by English language learners to
the core curriculum, unless the local educational agency has obtained
a waiver pursuant to Section 310.
   (3)  Provide supplemental instructional support, such as
intersession, before and after school, opportunities or summer school
to provide English language learners with continuing English
language development.  These opportunities are to supplement the
regular school program and may include, but are not limited to,
newcomer centers and tutorial support, mentors, or any other program
that meets the objectives of the program established pursuant to this
chapter.  Academic support services needed to provide these
opportunities may be funded by this program.
   (4)  Coordinate services and funding sources available to English
language learners, including, but not limited to, community-based
English tutoring programs established pursuant to Article 4
(commencing with Section 315) of Chapter 3, programs for at-risk
youth, after-school, intersession, and summer school programs,
reading programs established pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Statutes of
1999 (First Extraordinary Session) and any available federal funds.
The local educational agency shall also certify that it integrates
adult community-based tutoring resources with the program established
pursuant to this chapter.
   (e) Funding allocated pursuant to this chapter shall supplement
existing resources supporting language acquisition for English
language learners in grades 4 to 8, inclusive.  Funds may be used for
any of the purposes identified in the program established pursuant
to this chapter.
   (f) Funding for this program is contingent on an appropriation
specifically for this purpose in the annual Budget Act or any other
measure.
   406.  (a) The Regents of the University of California are
requested to authorize the President of the University of California
or his or her designee to jointly develop English Language
Development Professional Institutes with the Chancellor of the
California State University, the Chancellor of the California
Community Colleges, the independent colleges and universities, and
the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or their designees.  In
order to provide maximum access, the institutes shall be offered at
sites widely distributed throughout the state.  The California
Subject Matter Projects, an intersegmental, discipline-based
professional development network administered by the University of
California, is requested to be the organizing entity for the
institutes and followup programs.
   (b) (1) Commencing in the 1999-2000 academic year, the institutes
shall provide instruction for school teams from each school
participating in the program established pursuant to this chapter.  A
school team shall include teachers who do not hold cross-cultural or
bilingual cross-cultural certificates or their equivalents, teachers
who hold those certificates or their equivalents, and a schoolsite
administrator.  The majority of the team shall be teachers who do not
hold those cross-cultural certificates or their equivalents.  If the
participating school team employs instructional assistants who
provide instructional services to English language learners, the team
may include these instructional assistants.
   (2) Criteria and priority for selection of participating school
teams shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, all of the
following:
   (A) Schools whose pupils' reading scores are at or below the 40th
percentile on the English language arts portion of the achievement
test required to be administered pursuant to Section 60640.
   (B) Schools in which a high percentage of pupils score below grade
level on the English language development assessment to be developed
pursuant to Section 60811, when it is developed.
   (C) Schools with a high number of new, underprepared, and
noncredentialed teachers.  Underprepared teachers shall be defined as
teachers who do not possess a cross-cultural or bilingual
cross-cultural certificate, or their equivalents.
   (D) Schools in which the enrollment of English language learners
exceeds 25 percent of the total school enrollment.
   (E) Schools with a full complement of team members as described in
paragraph (1).
   (c) Each team member who participates in a program at an institute
shall receive a stipend of one thousand dollars ($1,000).
   (d) Instruction provided by the institutes shall be consistent
with state-adopted academic content standards, and with the English
language development standards adopted pursuant to Section 60811.
   (e) (1) Instruction at the institutes shall consist of an
intensive, sustained training period of no less than 40 hours during
the summer or during an intersession break, and shall be
supplemented, during the following school year, with no fewer than
the equivalent of five additional days of instruction and schoolsite
meetings, held on at least a monthly basis, to focus on the academic
progress of English language learners at that school.
   (2) Instruction at the institutes shall be of sufficient scope,
depth, and duration to fully equip instructional personnel to offer a
comprehensive and rigorous instructional program for English
Language learners, and to assess pupil progress so these pupils can
meet the content and performance standards required of all pupils in
California.  The instruction shall be designed to increase the
capacity of teachers and other school personnel to provide and assess
standards-based instruction for English language learners.
   (3) The instruction shall be multidisciplinary and focus on
instruction in disciplines for which the State Board of Education has
adopted academic content standards.  The instruction shall also be
research-based and provide effective models of professional
development in order to ensure that instructional personnel increase
their skills, at a minimum, in all of the following:
   (A) Literacy instruction and assessment for diverse pupil
populations, including instruction in the teaching of reading that is
research-based and consistent with the balanced, comprehensive
strategies required under Section 44757.
   (B) English language development and second language acquisition
strategies.
   (C) Specially designed instruction and assessment in English.
   (D) Application of appropriate assessment instruments to assess
language proficiency, and utilization of benchmarks for
reclassification of pupils from English language learners to fully
English proficient.
   (E) Examination of pupil work as a basis for the alignment of
standards, instruction, and assessment.
   (F) Use of appropriate instructional materials to assist English
language learners to attain academic content standards.
   (G) Instructional technology and its integration into the school
curriculum for English language learners.
   (H) Parent involvement and effective practices for building
partnerships with parents.
   (f) It is the intent of the Legislature that a local educational
agency or postsecondary institution that offers an accredited program
of professional preparation consider providing partial and
proportional credit toward satisfaction of the course requirements to
an enrolled candidate who satisfactorily completes a California
English Language Development Institute program, if the program has
been certified by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing as meeting
preparation standards.
   (g) This section shall not apply to the University of California
unless and until the Regents of the University of California act, by
resolution, to make it applicable.
   408.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares that an evaluation of
the program established pursuant to this chapter is desirable and
necessary, and accordingly, requires all of the following:
   (1) No later than October 1, 2003, each local educational agency
that receives funding through the program established pursuant to
this chapter shall submit a report to the Superintendent of Public
Instruction that includes:
   (A) An assessment of the effectiveness of that local educational
agency in assisting English language learners in achieving state
academic content and performance standards, including:
   (i) Increasing school rates of redesignation of pupils from
English language learners to English fluency.
   (ii) Increasing high school completion rates of English language
learners.
   (iii) Improving test scores assessing English language development
as well as grade level standards in reading, writing, mathematics,
science, and history/social science established pursuant to Sections
60640 and 60811.
   (B) Problems encountered in the design and operation of the
program, including identification of any federal, state, or local
statute or regulation that impedes program implementation.
   (2) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall contract for an
independent evaluation of the effectiveness of funds awarded under
this chapter in assisting local educational agencies in implementing
the English Language Acquisition Program.  No later than April 1,
2004, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall submit to the
Governor and the Legislature the results of the evaluation, and a
summary of the reports submitted to the superintendent pursuant to
this subdivision.
   (b) The evaluation shall focus on the extent to which goals and
objectives have been met and shall include recommendations for
modifications to the program to achieve those goals.  The evaluation
shall also compare the success of participating local educational
agencies in meeting the goals and objectives to local educational
agencies not participating in the program and shall take into
consideration comparisons to schools with similar characteristics.
   (c) Additional independent evaluations may be conducted by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction subject to additional funding
being made available for purposes of this chapter in subsequent
fiscal years.
   410.  (a) Subject to funds appropriated therefor in the annual
Budget Act or any other measure, the California Research Bureau of
the California State Library shall convene a broadly diverse group to
examine the available research on English language acquisition by
English language learners.  This research shall include evaluations
of English language acquisition programs that demonstrate success in
assisting English language learners in being redesignated as fluent
in English, as well as achieving academic progress.  The research
shall include short-term strategies that may be made available to
local educational agencies as soon as practicable, as well as
long-term research that may provide for case studies and model
programs distributed to local educational agencies pursuant to
paragraph (c).
   (b) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall compile a
compendium of model programs identified in subdivision (a) that
demonstrate success in assisting English language learners in being
redesignated as fluent in English, and shall provide this compendium
in a program advisory to local educational agencies.
   (c) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall provide the
compendium of model programs identified in subdivision (a) that
demonstrate success in teaching strategies and methodologies to
institutions of higher education and other institutions that offer
teacher training programs so that these strategies may be considered
for inclusion in teacher training programs.
